Koffler Centre of The Arts - Reena Katz Controversy

Reena Katz Controversy

In May 2009 The Koffler Centre of the Arts announced it was disassociating itself from artist Reena Katz as a result of her support for Israel Apartheid Week, and a petition that she signed “condemning Zionism to the dustbin of history." The Koffler Centre stated that such activities undermine the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. As stated currently on its website, undated documents say that the existence of Israel as a Jewish state is a core value of The Koffler. These documents did not exist at the time the controversy began. The website also currently states that "hile we will support artists with diverse views about Israel, we will not endorse anyone who calls for the demise of Israel as a Jewish state." Katz "categorically rejects" this interpretation of her position.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts has kept its contractual financial obligations to the project, each hand as they are called, which was planned to be associated with Toronto's Luminato festival. Katz' show was to be a non-political celebration of Jewish history in Kensington Market, which the Toronto Star described as "a gentle exploration of the layers of multi-ethnic immigrant history in Kensington Market, played out on the market's streets in performance and, in one notably warm-fuzzy intervention, a game of mah jongg between members of a Jewish seniors' centre and a class of Grade 8 students at a nearby school." The Centre's objection was not to the planned installation itself, which they had heartily approved of every step of the way, but to Katz' anti-Zionist views and activism (which was seen as undermining Israel as a Jewish state), prompting Koffler's action to be described as blacklisting by critics. The Centre's response was “Just as every individual has a right to freedom of expression, any organization is free to choose with whom it partners.”

Katz and independent curator Kim Simon, hired by the Koffler Center to curate the project, had been working on it for well over a year, and claim that from the beginning they had made Katz's critical activism concerning Israel clear to the Centre's own curator, Mona Filip (their link to the Centre) who in turn must have told executive director Starr about it. Katz herself describes the effect of having only a single one hour meeting with Starr on May 8, who then immediately issued the Koffler's press statement nationally, as a "stonewalling of internal dissent and debate... At no point along the way was I asked to represent myself, my ideas, or the mandates of the groups I belong to, despite amicable, almost daily contacts with Filip for many months."

As a result of the Centre's actions, 4 of the 34 artists pulled out of Koffler's summer art party and fundraiser The Wrecking Ball as a protest. One artist, Gwen MacGregor, stated "It really speaks to fundamental issues about freedom of expression and freedom of association. It's the thin edge of the wedge, in terms of censorship, and that's a slippery slope." Another artist, Yvonne Singer, the only professional artist on the Koffler Board and an associate professor at York University, where she was in charge of the graduate program in visual art, resigned from the Board. She said, concerning a meeting of the Board's Arts Advisory Committee on May 1 where Starr had raised the issues, "Several of us objected. The exhibition had nothing to do with political views, and in any case, she had a right to them as a citizen." Singer again objected at the May 4 meeting of the full Board, but a majority agreed with Starr. In addition dozens of faculty from OCAD and York Universities signed a letter to the Koffler Centre stating that the latter's "decision is a highly political act that serves to discredit Katz, her work and the validity of the political views and opinions she may hold as a Jew, an artist, and a social citizen."

In its FAQ (undated and not posted until well after the controversy began), the Koffler Centre of the Arts denies censorship since it did not cancel the exhibition and continued to fund it. They claim that the decision as to whether the exhibition continues remains in the hands of the artist and curator. This point of view was not accepted by journalists such as Murray Whyte, visual arts reporter at the Toronto Star, or Susan G. Cole, senior entertainment editor at Toronto's Now weekly magazine, nor was it the view of then Board member Yvonne Singer who told Whyte she "knew right away it would scuttle the whole thing. You can't dissociate like that, and reasonably expect it to survive." Cole noted the domino effect that the Koffler's quickly issued press release had on others involved in the project, in effect virtually terminating it 12 days before it was to open.

each hand as they are called finally went forward after the Koffler's lawyer reached a settlement with Ms. Katz's lawyer and was presented (in a much modified form) from October 1 to 25, 2009.

The Toronto Arts Council, which provides substantial financial support to The Koffler, addressed the situation: "We're asking (Koffler) if this signals a change in policy," said Claire Hopkinson, TAC's executive director. "We're taking it very seriously." While the Toronto Arts Council after a formal review has confirmed that its funding of The Centre will continue, it also noted that Koffler had been "in violation of the City of Toronto's non-discrimination policy regarding an individual's right to freedom of political association" but declined to say what changes they were required to make.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts has since published its Core Values and Core Values Policy on its website.